Hardy at Sunrise / Photo Workshop

Posted on October 31, 2025 by Mark Hertzberg

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Why in the blazes would I set the alarm for 6 a.m. on a Saturday a week ago? Really, why? We are in the midst of moving (after 47 years!) and sleeping in would have been swell. So, yeah, well, why? To help Andrew Pielage who was conducting one of his photo workshops in Racine.

Hardy Pielage 10.25.25 016.JPEG Andrew had 18 photo guests arriving shortly after 7 a.m. to photograph Frank Lloyd Wright’s Thomas P. Hardy house inside and out, top to bottom. Andrew had asked me a year ago to tell the photographers about Hardy and about the house. Tom Szymczak, the steward of the house, had two kringle and a pot of hot coffee waiting. I got there at 6:48 a.m. Before I could get the goodies out and turn on the lights, I had to take my own photos of the house at sunrise. So, first my photos, and then my photos of the photographers.

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People sometimes ask my about what brand of camera is best. My answer is that the photographer’s eye is more important than the nameplate. I use Nikons because I am looked into their lens system. I have long carried a new go-to camera in my pocket…my smartphone. I recently upgraded to the iPhone 17 Pro. My friend Harvey Riekoff asked me what I thought of the camera…all the photos in this post were taken with the phone. It makes me think of cartoonist Aaron Johnson’ What the Duck t-shirt that I was given a few years ago: “Your camera takes great pictures!” To which the duck answered, “Your mouth makes nice compliments!” And, now photos of Andrew’s guests:

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(My wife has a collection of photos of me on my back taking photos in Wright homes and other historic sites…I had to take this photo!)

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For more information about Andrew Pielage’s Photo Workshops;

https://www.apizm.com/events-calendar

Please scroll down to read previous posts on this website.

Wright Book Beat, Fall 2025

Posted on September 24, 2025 by Mark Hertzberg

We are previewing four new books about Frank Lloyd Wright and his architecture. Two were recently published. The other two might be on your wish list for next year. (Disclaimer: I have photographs in the Hansen and Rovang books, and am consulting on the Hardy House section of the Lubell / Pielage book)

In alphabetical order, by author:

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Dahlin, a Racine native, is the award-winning architect who is the founder of Genesis Architecture in Racine. The book is part of the “Routledge Research in Architecture” series. As previewed by Routledge: “This book connects Frank Lloyd Wright’s organic theory with his pursuit of beauty, presenting a path for the recovery of beauty in architecture…”

Dahlin recently spoke at Wright in Wisconsin’s event at Taliesin and signed books at the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy’s conference in Pittsburgh. His work is the cover feature of the current issue of the Journal of Architecture + Design (see link below).

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Kristine Hansen: Frank Lloyd Wright’s Illinois

This book will be a sequel to Hansen’s successful 2023 book Frank Lloyd Wright’s Wisconsin: How America’s Most Famous Architect Found Inspiration in His Home State which went into three printings.

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The Illinois book, whose subtitle has not been determined yet, is expected to be published next July or August. Wisconsin is a slim paperback that through photographs and narratives explores Wright’s work in his native state. It is described as “is part travel guide, part fireside chat with stewards of his designs.” Globe Pequot is the publisher of both books.

LR Hansen.jpg Hansen at her book talk at Boswell Books in Milwaukee, June 9, 2023.

Sam Lubell and Andrew Pielage: 50 Houses

Rizzoli will be publishing this book by architectural writer Sam Lubell and Wright and architectural photographer Andrew Pielage. A press release previews the book as a project that “will delve into the stories of 50 of Frank Lloyd Wright’s most iconic designs…(it) will uncover the rich and distinctive narratives that make each house as remarkable as its design.” The book is more than just another architectural and historic survey of these properties as it “celebrates Wright’s enduring legacy and the human experiences” of the houses. One of the 50 houses is the Thomas P. Hardy House in Racine, which I have long been familiar with. Lubell and I had a long conversation about the house in the living room a month ago. Pielage was given the privilege of staying there overnight so he could photograph it at different times of the day, evening, and night:

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Sarah Rovang: Through the Long Desert – Georgia O’Keeffe and Frank Lloyd Wright:

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Rovang’s book had its genesis eight years ago in a “why not?” moment when she attended a panel discussion in Santa Fe with Stuart Graff, then President and CEO of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, and Cody Hartley, Director of the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, about similarities between the two artists. Someone in the audience suggested that there should be a book about them, because they knew each other. After a week of pondering the idea, she emailed Graff and Hartley that she would want to be the author. Rovang will be at the October 23 “Sunsets & Sips” at Taliesin West:

https://franklloydwright.org/sunsets-sips/

I can relate to the “why not?” moment. I am often asked how I started on the path to being commissioned to write and photograph first one book, and ultimately four, about Wright and his work in Southeast Wisconsin. It’s a convoluted tale, that started with a “why not?” moment. Bravo, Sarah, for following through on that moment!

Links:

Dahlin’s book website, with discount coupon (the book lists for $152):

https://www.routledge.com/Frank-Lloyd-Wright-and-the-Path-to-Beauty/Dahlin/p/book/9781032620053?srsltid=AfmBOopoF7ZSGIZC6IbNLkzliB53hBd1nLevv3ShpW0sQQzL4M8G6apy

Genesis Architecture:

https://www.genesisarchitecture.com

OA + D Journal:

https://oadarchives.bigcartel.com/product/journal-oad-v13n2

Routledge Research in Architecture Series:

https://www.routledge.com/Routledge-Research-in-Architecture/book-series/RRARCH

Hansen’s book:

https://www.globepequot.com/9781493069149/frank-lloyd-wrights-wisconsin/

Sam Lubell’s website:

https://www.samlubell.com

Andrew Pielage’s website:

https://www.apizm.com

I urge you to purchase books directly from the publisher or from a local bookseller rather than reflexively ordering from “The Big A.” Even if Amazon will save you money, we need to support our local bookshops.

Please scroll down for earlier articles on this website.

Hardy Reflections and Shadow Play 8.5.25

Posted on August 6, 2025 by Mark Hertzberg

Photos © Mark Hertzberg (2025)

Hardy Shadow Play 8.5.25 001.JPEG One of the entry way hallway windows is reflected in the two story living room windows that overlook Lake Michigan.

One of the aspects of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Thomas P. Hardy House that continually fascinates me is the shadow play from the seven windows in the entry hallway. I had the opportunity to have fun with the reflections and shadow play again when I met at the house with Sam Lubell yesterday. Lubell and photographer Andrew Pielage are working on a book about 50 Wright homes for Rizzoli (more about that in a future post).

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As Robert McCarter has pointed out, the floor plan of the house is delineated in white in the windows: the square in the middle represents the public areas, the two story living room and the dining room one floor below. When I lead tours of the house I remind the guests that the only computer Wright had when he came up with such designs was the one between his ears.

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The rectangle that bisects the square represents the bedrooms at either end of the two main floors. We now add to the drama of the seven Wright-designed windows the leaded glass inserts in the two sliding entry doors (one north, one south). They replicate the design of Wright’s living room windows, which were taken out by the second stewards of the house (1938 – 1947) because they leaked. They were replaced by clear windows.

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These quick happy snaps were taken with my phone camera…elapsed time, except for the top photo, seven minutes. Every time I turned I saw another photo. Thank you Gene and Tom and Joan Szymczak, for rehabilitating the house for us to enjoy!

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Hardy House Views: 1904 – 2025

Posted on February 9, 2025 by Mark Hertzberg

Today I had the rare (and arguably unfortunate) opportunity to photograph Frank Lloyd Wright’s Thomas P. Hardy House in Racine, Wisconsin from the lake, without getting wet. Climate change is playing havoc with Lake Michigan (as it is with the world). In 2020, the water level was so high that the stewards of the house, and neighbors, had massive hunks of stone brought in to protect their property:

Today, well, I was able to walk out onto what had been part of the lake:

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The photograph below, taken through the two story living room windows, shows how much the water has receded:

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Taking my photographs today gave me the idea to show this view of the house through the years, in historic drawings and photos. First, we have Marion Mahony’s drawing, reproduced in House Beautiful magazine’s 1906 story about the house:

Then we have the earliest known photograph of the house, taken in 1906, as it neared completion:

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A 1908 photograph from the OA + D archives, shows significant growth of trees on the hill:

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The dining room terrace, which ended in a stucco wall, was demolished after World War II at the behest of the Sporers, second stewards of the house. There was a public beach, the 14th Street Beach, just south of the house (to the left of it in these drawings and photographs, until the 1970s. The Sporers asked Wright to give them a recreation room under the dining room terrace. Edgar Tafel sketched plans on Mahony’s drawing before leaving the Taliesin Fellowship in 1941. The work was not done until after the war. Full-length windows, including a door, opened to the outside:

Terrace sketch PPT.jpg © 2025 Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, Scottsdale, AZ. The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation Archives (The Museum of Modern Art | Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library, Columbia University, New York), from Jim and Margaret Yoghourtjian’s collection

Next, is from David Archer’s collection. He grew up in the house between 1947 – 1957:

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Schuyler and Peterkin Seward were stewards of the house from 1957 – 1963:

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Jim and Margaret Yoghourtjian were the final stewards (1968 – 2012) before the late Gene Szymczak who bought, and rehabilitated the house in 2012. Margaret took these photos:

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The beach was lost in the 1970s when the City of Racine closed off a breakwater across from the house. Jim Yoghourtjian told me that they lost about 125 feet of property when the lake filled in below the house. While the Yoghourtjians used to share the house with interested parties, as they sensed people were taking them for granted and not respecting that they lived in a private home, rather than a public site, they let the landscape grow wild, to shield them from boaters on the lake and people walking the lakeshore:

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A week after buying the house, Szymczak had the hill cleared:

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And that, brings us to today:

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There is no telling what the lake will do next.

The Coda to Hardy House Rehabilitation

Posted on August 28, 2024 by Mark Hertzberg

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When the late Eugene (Gene) Szymczak considered buying Frank Lloyd Wright’s Thomas P. Hardy House in Racine, Wisconsin in 2012 he told me, “I don’t have children. This is something [save the house] I could do for Racine.” Indeed he did. He undertook a heroic rehabilitation and stabilization of the house.* Gene, left of center in the photo below, was awarded the prestigious Wright Spirit Award by the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy for his work on the house in 2015. He died unexpectedly a year later after an illness.

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The house stayed in the family after Gene’s death. Tom Szymczak is one of Gene’s brothers. Tom recently completed a project which, he told me, was the last thing Gene wanted to accomplish at the house. The house was built with two pocket doors. They were replaced by conventional, hinged plain wood doors by the third stewards of the house, David and Mary Archer, between 1947 and 1957:

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Gene decided to put pocket doors back in the house in 2013. He chose sliding glass patio-style doors so he could look into the two courtyards from the entry hall. The heavy metal arms that opened and closed the pocket doors were left in place, and were found in 2013:

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The house was built with leaded glass windows throughout, including in the dramatic two-story living room overlooking Lake Michigan. Anne Ruetz, whose parents were second stewards of the house (1938 – 1947) told me her parents replaced the windows with plain glass ones because the original ones leaked. When Gene put in energy efficient windows he jokingly told me that the next owners of the house could bear the expense of replicating Wright’s window design. Little did he know, of course, that he would be shifting the burden to his brother. 1908 photographs, which are used courtesy of the OA + D Archives, show the original leaded glass living room windows:

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Instead of replicating the design in the living room, Gene intended to have the design fashioned for the pocket doors. The work was completed earlier this month, with window inserts made by Oakbrook Esser of Oconomowoc, Wisconsin. The installation photos show Tom Szymczak, left, and master craftsman Chad Nichols:

Thank you, Gene, for your gift to our community and to the World of Wright!

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The first people outside of family and friends to see the new windows will be 17 members of a Road Scholar Wright tour next Wednesday. They will be followed by several hundred people attending Wright in Wisconsin’s “Wright and Like” tour Saturday September 7.

*The term “rehabilitation” is appropriate, rather than “restoration,” because there were some changes to the house. “Restoration” would infer house museum status, accurate to either the day Hardy moved into the house (1906) or left it (in 1938) after losing it at sheriff’s auction because of monies owed on the house.

Links:

Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy:

www.savewright.org

Wright and Like Tour:

https://wrightinwisconsin.org/wright-and-2024

Road Scholar Architectural Masterworks of Frank Lloyd Wright Tour (run 4 or 5 a year)

https://www.roadscholar.org/find-an-adventure/22976/Architectural-Masterworks-of-Frank-Lloyd-Wright

Please scroll down to read previous posts

Windows on Main Street

Posted on August 2, 2024 by Mark Hertzberg

I have written before that I always challenge myself to see something new even on my umpteenth visit to a given Frank Lloyd Wright – designed building. I was blasé today as I took my friend Robert Hartmann on a tour of the Thomas P. Hardy House on Main Street in Racine, Wisconsin, as he prepared for Wright in Wisconsin’s forthcoming “Wright and Like” tour scheduled for September 7. Hartmann expects between 300 – 500 guests and wanted to figure out the best way for guests to wind through the compact house, and how many docents he would need.

The light was less than spectacular and there was nothing new to see. I had biked to the house so my only camera was my smartphone. I think phone cameras sometimes oversaturate colors, but that camera was all I had when I unexpectedly saw this in the second floor windows above the south stairs:

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So much for being blasé!

Here is a link for more information about the tour:

https://wrightinwisconsin.org/wright-and-2024

I served on Wright in Wisconsin’s board for 14 years. They are the only statewide Wright group, originally founded in cooperation with the state Department of Tourism to promote Wright tourism in Wisconsin.

Please scroll down for previous articles or blog posts.

Wright’s Birthday: Wright in the Abstract

Posted on June 8, 2024 by Mark Hertzberg

Photos © Mark Hertzberg (2024)

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It is June 8, Frank Lloyd Wright’s 157th birthday. Social media sites devoted to Wright are abuzz every year with birthday tributes. Sometimes I have something to post on “the day,” but not always. (June 8, 1968 or 6.8.68, my high school graduation day, is more significant to me personally, but that’s another story). I had nothing in mind to post this year until I took my customary morning bike ride and passed his Thomas P. Hardy House and the SC Johnson Administration Building and Research Tower which are on my bike route in Racine. I thought back to the fall of 2022 when my alma mater, Lake Forest (Illinois) College, honored me with a 50th anniversary Homecoming dual photo exhibit. One gallery was devoted to my career as a photojournalist, the other to my Wright-related photography. As I pedaled down Main Street this morning I decided to share the latter with you. The thesis of the exhibit was to present “Wright in the Abstract,” rather than only in record shots or head-on photos of his work. My challenge was to cull a few dozen photos of several thousand. The photos are in chronological order, based on the year of the commission, not the year of completion.

Romeo and Juliet Windmill, Spring Green (originally 1896, rebuilt 1938 and 1992):

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Thomas P. Hardy House, Racine (1904-1905):

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Meyer May House, Grand Rapids (1908):

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Hollyhock House, Los Angeles (1917):

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Taliesin III, Spring Green (1925):

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Tour guests in Wright’s bedroom at Taliesin III:

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Hillside Drafting Room, Spring Green (1932):

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SC Johnson Administration Building (1936) and Research Tower (1943-1944):

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Herbert F. Johnson Jr. Home (Wingspread), Wind Point (1937):

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Florida Southern College, Lakeland (Beginning in 1938):

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SC Johnson Research Tower, Racine (1943-44):

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Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (1943):

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Price Tower, Bartlesville (1952):

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Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church, Wauwatosa (1956):

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Lindholm Service Station, Cloquet, Minnesota (1957):

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Marin County, California, Civic Center (1957):

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I will close with a photo I took just a few weeks ago when I was given the opportunity to preview the newly-restored Hillside Theater (1952), which is being inaugurated this evening, literally just as I am putting this piece together:

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People have often asked me what attracts me to Wright’s work. As a photographer, I have a visual attraction to his work. That grew in part out of my newspaper photo assignments at the SC Johnson Administration Building. But beyond that, as I began to study his work, I was struck by the evolution of his designs from the 1890s until his death in 1959. Happy birthday, Frank Lloyd Wright, and thank you for your contributions to helping us reimagine the spaces in which we live, work, and worship.

Please scroll down in http://www.wrightinracine.com for previous posts

Hardy: Light, Shapes, Shadows

Posted on April 21, 2023 by Mark Hertzberg

Photos © Mark Hertzberg (2023)

One of my favorite things in Frank Lloyd Wright’s Thomas P. Hardy House (1904/05) in Racine, Wisconsin, is the bank of seven windows in the front hall. I am taken both by the design – Robert McCarter has written that the floor plan of the house is articulated in white* – but particularly how the shadow of the pattern is projected into, and around, the front hall by the afternoon sun.

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The first photo, below, is a file photo of one of the original windows (the windows have since been replicated and replaced). It was protected from vandals, who had previously thrown stones at it, by a layer of plastic. Next, are photos of the patterns I was delighted to find yesterday afternoon when I stopped to drop something off at the house.

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*The square in the middle represents the public spaces (the two story living room and the dining room below it) and the thin rectangle that bisects it shows us the private family rooms at both ends of the house.

Please scroll down to read previous posts on this blog or website.

Wright in the Abstract

Posted on October 18, 2022 by Mark Hertzberg

I had to edit 34,575 Frank Lloyd Wright building images (or 185.62 GB) down to 30 photos for an exhibit.

Here’s the backstory: Lake Forest (Illinois) College, my alma mater, honored me with two concurrent exhibits this month for my 50th anniversary Homecoming. Rebecca Goldberg, Lecturer in Art and Director of the Gallery in the Romanesque Durand Art Institute building, initially asked me just to include a handful of my Frank Lloyd Wright work in an exhibit of my career in photojournalism. I found it hard to edit the Wright work down to just four or so photos. Fortunately there was enough space in two galleries to mount two separate exhibits, each with 30 prints. I decided to pick mostly abstract interpretations of Wright’s work than show perhaps predictable building photos. My selection is below, in alphabetical order of the commissions:

LR Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church (1956) .jpg Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church, Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, 1956

LR Florida Southern College (1938) .jpg Florida Southern College, Lakeland, Florida, 1938

LR Florida Southern College (1938).jpg Florida Southern College, Lakeland, Florida, 1938

LR Guggenheim Museum (1943).jpg Guggenheim Museum, New York City, 1943

LR Hillside Drafting Studio (ca. 1933).jpg Hillside Drafting Room, Taliesin, Spring Green, Wisconsin, 1933

LR Hollyhock House (1919).jpg Hollyhock House, Los Angeles, 1919

LR Imperial Hotel (1915).jpg Imperial Hotel entry way, Tokyo, 1915, as rebuilt at Meiji Mura near Nagoya, Japan

LR Lindholm Service Station (1956).jpg Lindholm Service Station, Cloquet, Minnesota, 1956

LR Marin County Civic Center (1957) .jpg Marin County Civic Center, San Rafael, California, 1957

LR Marin County Civic Center (1957).jpg Marin County Civic Center, San Rafael, California, 1957

LR Meyer May House (1908) .jpg Meyer May House, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1908

LR Meyer May House (1908).jpg Meyer May House, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1908

LR Price Tower (1956) .jpg Price Tower, Bartlesville, Oklahoma, 1952

LR Price Tower (1956).jpg Price Tower, Bartlesville, Oklahoma, 1952

LR Romeo and Julie Windmill (1898).jpg Romeo and Juliet Windmill, Taliesin, Spring Green, Wisconsin, 1898

LR SC Johnson Administration Building (1936).jpg SC Johnson Administration Building, Racine, Wisconsin, 1936

LR SC Johnson Addition (1943-44).jpg SC Johnson Administration Building, Racine, Wisconsin, 1936

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SC Johnson Administration Building, Racine, Wisconsin, 1936

LR SC Johnson Research Tower (1943-44) .jpg SC Johnson Research Tower, Racine, Wisconsin, 1943/44

LR Taliesin (1911, 1925) .jpg Taliesin, Spring Green, Wisconsin, 1911, 1925

LR Taliesin (1911, 1925).jpg Taliesin, Spring Green, Wisconsin, 1911, 1925

LR Taliesin Visitors (1911, 1925).jpg Taliesin, Spring Green, Wisconsin, 1911, 1925

LR Thomas P. Hardy House (1904-05).jpg Thomas P. Hardy House, Racine, Wisconsin, 1904/05

LR Wingspread (1937) .jpg Wingspread, Wind Point, Wisconsin, 1937

LR Wingspread (1937).jpg Wingspread, Wind Point, Wisconsin, 1937

Now, as for those 34,575 images…if I had time to go through them, a good chunk could be deleted. But who has time to do that?

Hours for the gallery…the show runs through October 30:

https://www.lakeforest.edu/academics/majors-and-minors/art-and-art-history/art-galleries

Keep scrolling down for previous posts on the website…

Wright Tourism is Back: Bits of Burnham

Posted on May 19, 2022 by Mark Hertzberg

LR Burnham 2022 010.jpg Sybil Knop talks to Road Scholar guests touring the Burnham Block May 19

The pandemic is far from over, but Wright tourism is ramping up again. I have helped lead the Wisconsin portion of Road Scholar’s week-long tour that starts in Chicago and ends in Spring Green since 2017 (a link to the itinerary is below). This week is our first of three tours for this year since 2019.. We have 16 guests from 10 states on this tour. Our first stop was the Burnham Block in Milwaukee which has six American System-Built homes, most owned by Frank Lloyd Wright’s Burnham Block, Inc.

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I always challenge myself to see if I can find fresh photographs at Wright sites, no matter how often I have visited them. Here is what I saw on the Burnham Block after two years away from my Wright photo quests. I have two establishing shots showing signs of spring:

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I concentrated more on patterns or design elements that I saw, mostly at the duplexes (dupli?) at 2032 – 2034 W. Burnham Street, left, and 2028 – 2030 next door.

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LR Burnham 2022 018.jpg This is not a version of the Frank Lloyd Wright signature tile…it is one of the faded red squares that have been used as social distancing markers on Burnham Street.

LR Burnham 2022 017.jpg “I thought Frank Lloyd Wright hated basements.” They were not his favorite spaces, but he did not eschew them entirely. This is one of the vents from the basement at 2032 – 2034.

I told our guests that one of the great benefits of touring 2032 – 2034 is that while they generally see fully restored or rehabilitated Wright structures, this was an opportunity to see one in raw shape, as money from a Save America’s Treasures grants is used to bring it to house museum status like the Model B-1 down the block at 2714 W. Burnham St.

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LR Burnham 2022 066.jpg This period stove is in a closet until the restoration is done.

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We then toured the Model B-1, one of the two single-family homes on the block. It was the first Burnham property acquired by what became the Burnham Block organization, in 2004. It has been fully restored with a Save America’s Treasures grant. It is a tribute to Mike Lilek and the organizations that have been the stewards of Burnham received not one, but two SAT grants.

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There are still two duplexes that will need restoration, including the world’s only Frank Lloyd Wright building clad in aluminum siding:

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I close this blog entry with a nod to my friend Cathy Spyres, docent extraordinaire at Wright’s Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church – her church – in Wauwatosa. The church is our second Wright stop on our Milwaukee itinerary:

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Tomorrow’s itinerary is another full day: We are overnighting in Madison tonight, after also seeing the Milwaukee Art Museum (Saarinen / Calatrava) and Monona Terrace. Tomorrow we start at Jacobs 1 and then go to the Unitarian Meeting House, Wyoming Valley School and have lunch at Riverview Terrace before our in-depth tours of Taliesin and Hillside. I can attest from our own trips with Road Scholar that you see so much and learn so much (education is a major component of their programming) that you need a vacation after your RS vacation! Wright tourism is, indeed back in full swing!

Links:

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Burnham Block:

http://wrightinmilwaukee.com

This Road Scholar Trip Itinerary (we also have a full tour of the Hardy House in Racine and an exterior guided tour of Jacobs 1, although they are not listed in the advance itinerary):

https://www.roadscholar.org/find-an-adventure/22976/architectural-masterworks-of-frank-lloyd-wright

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